This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art, which may be related to various aspects of the present invention that are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
The broadband access was originally seen as a modem offering Internet access to a single Ethernet and IP-based device, such as a computer device, through a single broadband access provider. Later a bridge or router was integrated together with the modem unit in order to serve multiple devices. The combined unit was called a home gateway (HG). It was able to attach different home equipments to the IP based networks over one access line, through a single broadband access provider.
Another scheme for Internet access is a system where a device comprises a modem and a VLAN multiplexer. This device forms a VLAN based network termination (NT), serving as a VLAN-based multi dwelling unit. Multiple home gateways can be connected to this VLAN based Network Termination, where the home gateway device does not comprise any modem functionality. Each of these home gateways may be connected to a different broadband access provider, using a set of VLANs. The Network Termination supports multi-provider environment. The access line bandwidth (Bw) is shared between multiple gateways. Each gateway is supposed to be allocated a maximum available upstream bandwidth.
When the sum of all the HG bandwidth capabilities is higher than the available access line bandwidth, there is a possible overflow of bandwidth streams in the upstream direction.